Daring, opportunistic, audacious – call it what you will, the fact of the matter is that Niki Terpstra’s late solo bid for glory at Paris-Roubaix was a race-winning move. Breaking clear of an elite leading group, the Dutchman’s attack saw him ride solo into the Roubaix velodrome to the biggest victory of his career. An incident-packed race had lived up to its billing as a Classic in all senses of the word – crashes, attacks aplenty and a strong ride from Sir Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) to boot. The day belonged to Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Terpstra however, and photographer Stefano Sirotti was on hand to capture the action.

Final Results

Dutch rider Niki Terpstra attacked just over 6 km from home to stun a host of favorites and win Paris-Roubaix at the end of 257km of racing on Sunday. The race had seemed set for a sprint finish among 11 riders but Terpstra took advantage of the marking of favorites Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara and Peter Sagan to go solo and win in the Roubaix velodrome after six hours nine minutes and one second. German sprinter John Degenkolb won the sprint for second 20 seconds later with Cancellara third. Having finished fifth two years ago and third last year, 29-year-old Terpstra, who rides for Omega Pharma, finally delivered on his immense potential on the biggest Spring Classics stage of all. In so doing, he became the first Dutch winner of the ‘Hell of the North’ since Servais Knaven in 2001.Sagan was sixth while Wiggins trailed home in ninth and Boonen tenth.